Fuel Saving

Ibrahim5

It's far cheaper to do your shopping on a bicycle. Just need to buy a few pannier bags. Keeps you fit too.

ontheroad1970

Ahhhh Fred always full of 'useful' advice.  

You'd need a bike that is suitable for panniers - they don't all fit.  You'd need a good lock too.  Plus if you were freelance and couldn't do a job because something came in while you were a 30/60 min ride away, wouldn't be good value at all.

Herzlos

Ibrahim5 said:

It's far cheaper to do your shopping on a bicycle. Just need to buy a few pannier bags. Keeps you fit too.

Users: I get my Tesco delivered because it's a 45 mile round trip. Or a 20 mile round trip.

Fred: Use a bicycle.

Sure, a 45 mile round trip is only a 4 or 5 hour cycle for a fit rider even if you can somehow fit a weeks shopping for a family on there and find a suitable route.


That said. If you're talking about people going 1 or 2 miles to the shop for a pint of milk and some bread, then a bike and panniers is absolutely the way to go. Or even just a rucksack and walking.

I'm a pretty keen cyclist but I won't do my weekly shop on a bike because it's just not practical.

ontheroad1970

Herzlos said:

Ibrahim5 said:

It's far cheaper to do your shopping on a bicycle. Just need to buy a few pannier bags. Keeps you fit too.

Users: I get my Tesco delivered because it's a 45 mile round trip. Or a 20 mile round trip.

Fred: Use a bicycle.

Sure, a 45 mile round trip is only a 4 or 5 hour cycle for a fit rider even if you can somehow fit a weeks shopping for a family on there and find a suitable route.


That said. If you're talking about people going 1 or 2 miles to the shop for a pint of milk and some bread, then a bike and panniers is absolutely the way to go. Or even just a rucksack and walking.

I'm a pretty keen cyclist but I won't do my weekly shop on a bike because it's just not practical.

Not forgetting that when you get home from a 4 hour ride all your frozen food will be defrosted and your milk will be yogurt on a warm day...

Herzlos

ontheroad1970 said:

Not forgetting that when you get home from a 4 hour ride all your frozen food will be defrosted and your milk will be yogurt on a warm day...

I hadn't even thought of that. You wouldn't want to open up any cans of beer, either.

(I've done a bike pannier shopping from about 1 mile away and it was fine, though).

CKhalvashi

troffasky said:

forgotmyname said:

Curious to know which journey planner knows how fuel efficient my car is?

Zap-Map does, but that's for a specific use case [EVs] and it's not what the OP is suggesting.

The suggestion is that exceeding the [predicted mean] average speed at any point in a journey is wasteful. Which is not particularly useful advice, because unless your journey happens to involve driving at exactly one speed the whole time, then there will always be points where you are exceeding the average, no matter how much you slow down.

Probably best not to try being "too clever by half" and just drive a bit slower than you usually would, ease off as you come to the lights, etc.

Although as an EV driver, that isn't always 100% accurate. My car has regerative braking and I personally change the setting between 0, 1 and 3, 3 not needing to use the brakes at all and 0 with the car being as aerodynamic as it is effectively coasting. Being stuck behind a lorry this morning on my way to the supermarket that was constantly braking on a clear road didn't help the efficiency of the car.

For traditional petrol/diesel, the best way to increase efficiency is to drive with a light foot, in as high gear as possible (swapped car with OH in the supermarket car park so brought hers home) and remain in as high gear as possible. Hers is a diesel with a DSG gearbox and I use the 'manual' mode to keep it in 6th from 30mph, thus increasing efficiency a lot. Filling it up at £1.71/l makes you think of such efficiency.

motorguy

Herzlos said:

Ibrahim5 said:

It's far cheaper to do your shopping on a bicycle. Just need to buy a few pannier bags. Keeps you fit too.

Users: I get my Tesco delivered because it's a 45 mile round trip. Or a 20 mile round trip.

Fred: Use a bicycle.

Sure, a 45 mile round trip is only a 4 or 5 hour cycle for a fit rider even if you can somehow fit a weeks shopping for a family on there and find a suitable route.


That said. If you're talking about people going 1 or 2 miles to the shop for a pint of milk and some bread, then a bike and panniers is absolutely the way to go. Or even just a rucksack and walking.

I'm a pretty keen cyclist but I won't do my weekly shop on a bike because it's just not practical.

Indeed.

The other big plus for us for home delivery is not having to go to a supermarket / shopping centre at all - its not an experience we find pleasurable or a good use of our free time.

motorguy

Herzlos said:

Ibrahim5 said:

It's far cheaper to do your shopping on a bicycle. Just need to buy a few pannier bags. Keeps you fit too.

Users: I get my Tesco delivered because it's a 45 mile round trip. Or a 20 mile round trip.

Fred: Use a bicycle.

Sure, a 45 mile round trip is only a 4 or 5 hour cycle for a fit rider even if you can somehow fit a weeks shopping for a family on there and find a suitable route.


That said. If you're talking about people going 1 or 2 miles to the shop for a pint of milk and some bread, then a bike and panniers is absolutely the way to go. Or even just a rucksack and walking.

I'm a pretty keen cyclist but I won't do my weekly shop on a bike because it's just not practical.

Just found the "ignore" feature, so i can now set Ibrahim and the Fred account to ignore.

Bliss.   

Ibrahim5

10 miles on a bike is nothing. Just fly past all the traffic. Frozen food no problem. More of a problem when you are in a car stuck in traffic.

[Deleted User]

Ibrahim5 said:

10 miles on a bike is nothing. Just fly past all the traffic. Frozen food no problem. More of a problem when you are in a car stuck in traffic.

I'm with you on this one, I know you get a bashing across these forums sometimes but I totally agree with the bike.

For financial reasons that are well behind me now, I spent about 18 months with no car. My workplace was 20 miles away and I had 4 kids to provide shopping for but I survived and came through the experience as a better person.

A bike was a lifesaver, I had the paniers and did all my shopping on the bike from the "big Tesco" without any issues. I commuted using a mix of bike and trains, when the weather was good the 20 mile commute on the bike was no issue, but I even cycled home in the snow because the trains were cancelled.

I got so fit that it got me into cycling as a leisure activity as well and could enjoy 50 mile cycle rides.

I'm not anti-car, but it is surprising how cheap and easy a non-car life can be when forced into it.